<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s birth rate fell to a record low last year, the government said on Wednesday, despite having poured billions of dollars into efforts to encourage women to have more children and maintain population stability.<\/p>\n
The country has one of the world\u2019s longest life expectancies and lowest birth rates, a combination that presents a looming demographic challenge.<\/p>\n
Neighbouring Japan is grappling<\/a> with the same issue, and on Tuesday the fast-ageing nation announced that the number of births there had also dropped to a new low in 2023.<\/p>\n South Korea\u2019s fertility rate \u2014 the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime \u2014 dropped to 0.72 in 2023, down nearly eight per cent from 2022, according to preliminary data from Statistics Korea.<\/p>\n This is far below the 2.1 children needed to maintain the current population of 51 million, which at these rates will nearly halve by the year 2100, experts estimate.<\/p>\n The government has spent vast amounts on trying to encourage more babies, offering cash subsidies, babysitting services and support for infertility treatment.<\/p>\n But the birth rate has continued its chronic decline.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of newborns, birth rates, and crude birth rates (newborns per 1,000 people) are all at the lowest point since 1970\u201d when data collection began, said Lim Young-il, head of the Population Census Division at Statistics Korea.<\/p>\n Lim told reporters that South Korea\u2019s 0.72 birth rate is the lowest among OECD nations, while the average age to give birth is 33.6, the highest in the OECD.<\/p>\n Experts say multiple factors, from high child-rearing costs to a notoriously competitive society that makes well-paid jobs difficult to secure, are behind low birth rates.<\/p>\n The double burden for working mothers of carrying out the brunt of household chores and childcare while also maintaining their careers is another key factor.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving witnessed so many mothers around me give up their careers, I have decided not to follow the path to motherhood,\u201d a 37-year-old office worker, who asked to be identified by her surname Jeon, told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jeon, who has been married for four years, said the country\u2019s rigid corporate culture was a primary reason for her decision, with greater flexibility at work \u201cmore important than government subsidies\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cRaising a child is not possible without sacrificing the career of one parent in this environment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Many developed countries are struggling with low birth rates, but the issue is also particularly acute in Japan, which has the world\u2019s second-oldest population after Monaco.<\/p>\n Births in Japan dropped to a new low in 2023, government data showed on Tuesday, with the country recording more than twice as many deaths as new babies.<\/p>\nCareer \u2018sacrifice\u2019<\/h2>\n